BUFFERCACHE(9) NetBSD Kernel Developer's Manual BUFFERCACHE(9)
NAMEbuffercache, bread, breada, breadn, bwrite, bawrite, bdwrite, getblk,
geteblk, incore, allocbuf, brelse, biodone, biowait -- buffer cache
interfaces
SYNOPSIS#include <sys/buf.h>intbread(struct vnode *vp, daddr_t blkno, int size, struct kauth_cred *cred,
int flags, struct buf **bpp);
intbreadn(struct vnode *vp, daddr_t blkno, int size, daddr_t rablks[],
int rasizes[], int nrablks, struct kauth_cred *cred, int flags,
struct buf **bpp);
intbreada(struct vnode *vp, daddr_t blkno, int size, daddr_t rablkno,
int rabsize, struct kauth_cred *cred, int flags, struct buf **bpp);
intbwrite(struct buf *bp);
voidbawrite(struct buf *bp);
voidbdwrite(struct buf *bp);
struct buf *getblk(struct vnode *vp, daddr_t blkno, int size, int slpflag,
int slptimeo);
struct buf *geteblk(int size);
struct buf *incore(struct vnode *vp, daddr_t blkno);
voidallocbuf(struct buf *bp, int size, int preserve);
voidbrelse(struct buf *bp);
voidbiodone(struct buf *bp);
intbiowait(struct buf *bp);
DESCRIPTION
The buffercache interface is used by each filesystems to improve I/O per-
formance using in-core caches of filesystem blocks.
The kernel memory used to cache a block is called a buffer and described
by a buf structure. In addition to describing a cached block, a buf
structure is also used to describe an I/O request as a part of the disk
driver interface.
FUNCTIONSbread(vp, blkno, size, cred, flags, bpp)
Read a block corresponding to vp and blkno. The buffer is
returned via bpp. The units of blkno are specifically the units
used by the VOP_STRATEGY() routine for the vp vnode. For device
special files, blkno is in units of DEV_BSIZE and both blkno and
size must be multiples of the underlying device's block size.
For other files, blkno is in units chosen by the file system
containing vp.
If the buffer is not found (i.e. the block is not cached in mem-
ory), bread() allocates a buffer with enough pages for size and
reads the specified disk block into it using credential cred.
The buffer returned by bread() is marked as busy. (The B_BUSY
flag is set.) After manipulation of the buffer returned from
bread(), the caller should unbusy it so that another thread can
get it. If the buffer contents are modified and should be writ-
ten back to disk, it should be unbusied using one of variants of
bwrite(). Otherwise, it should be unbusied using brelse().
breadn(vp, blkno, size, rablks, rasizes, nrablks, cred, flags, bpp)
Get a buffer as bread(). In addition, breadn() will start read-
ahead of blocks specified by rablks, rasizes, nrablks.
breada(vp, blkno, size, rablkno, rabsize, cred, flags, bpp)
Same as breadn() with single block read-ahead. This function is
for compatibility with old filesystem code and shouldn't be used
by new ones.
bwrite(bp)
Write a block. Start I/O for write using VOP_STRATEGY(). Then,
unless the B_ASYNC flag is set in bp, bwrite() waits for the I/O
to complete.
bawrite(bp)
Write a block asynchronously. Set the B_ASYNC flag in bp and
simply call VOP_BWRITE(), which results in bwrite() for most
filesystems.
bdwrite(bp)
Delayed write. Unlike bawrite(), bdwrite() won't start any I/O.
It only marks the buffer as dirty (B_DELWRI) and unbusy it.
getblk(vp, blkno, size, slpflag, slptimeo)
Get a block of requested size size that is associated with a
given vnode and block offset, specified by vp and blkno. If it
is found in the block cache, make it busy and return it. Other-
wise, return an empty block of the correct size. It is up to
the caller to ensure that the cached blocks are of the correct
size.
If getblk() needs to sleep, slpflag and slptimeo are used as
arguments for cv_timedwait().
geteblk(size)
Allocate an empty, disassociated block of a given size size.
incore(vp, blkno)
Determine if a block associated to a given vnode and block off-
set is in the cache. If it is there, return a pointer to it.
Note that incore() doesn't busy the buffer unlike getblk().
allocbuf(bp, size, preserve)
Expand or contract the actual memory allocated to a buffer. If
preserve is zero, the entire data in the buffer will be lost.
Otherwise, if the buffer shrinks, the truncated part of the data
is lost, so it is up to the caller to have written it out first
if needed; this routine will not start a write. If the buffer
grows, it is the callers responsibility to fill out the buffer's
additional contents.
brelse(bp)
Unbusy a buffer and release it to the free lists.
biodone(bp)
Mark I/O complete on a buffer. If a callback has been requested
by B_CALL, do so. Otherwise, wakeup waiters.
biowait(bp)
Wait for operations on the buffer to complete. When they do,
extract and return the I/O's error value.
CODE REFERENCES
This section describes places within the NetBSD source tree where actual
code implementing the buffer cache subsystem can be found. All pathnames
are relative to /usr/src.
The buffer cache subsystem is implemented within the file
sys/kern/vfs_bio.c.
SEE ALSOintro(9), vnode(9)
Maurice J. Bach, The Design of the UNIX Operating System, Prentice Hall,
1986.
Marshall Kirk McKusick, Keith Bostic, Michael J. Karels, and John S.
Quarterman, The Design and Implementation of the 4.4BSD Operating System,
Addison Wesley, 1996.
BUGS
In the current implementation, bread() and its variants don't use a spec-
ified credential.
Because biodone() and biowait() do not really belong to buffercache, they
shouldn't be documented here.
NetBSD 5.0.1 May 16, 2008 NetBSD 5.0.1

You can also request any man page by name and (optionally) by section:

Command:

Section:

Architecture:

Collection:

Use the DEFAULT collection to view manual pages
for third-party software.